how to become a knife maker?

There are a few makers on here that do small production work, read Dan Koster's threads on producing bushcraft knives, that is a pretty modern way of producing knives.

I think that a cnc milling machine would be more useful for things like the bevels, you can outsource batches of blanks to people like greatlakeswaterjet.

Remember that after you get the blanks cut out you are only part way there, the bevels need to be cut, finished smooth, heat treated, tempered, handle constructed and glued, handle shaped and any other finish work that needs to be done. Modern steels will have to have a good heat treating setup with accurate temperatures (so do simple steels)- this can be sent out as well.
 
yoz's friend said:
i appreciate you guys replys,i really do(except one).and i realise you guys are old school craftsmen.but i was thinking a more modern 21st century set up.im not trying to in any way insult you guys or your craft but the old hammer and anvil thing is an art not everyone can or has the talent to do.i want to start a modern if not small state of the art set up.that can mass produce knives of my design fast and effeciently.
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Wow! That's not insulting at all.:jerkit: I was just like you when I was younger. My dad was a hobbiest blacksmith that did things the old fashioned way which I thought took to much time. After making some mediocre blades it turned out that the old fashioned way was the right way. If your going to be a knife maker then be a knife maker. If your going to produce thousands of the same style knife don't call your self a knife maker. You want to be a buisness that produces production knives. Knife making is an art that takes years to learn. There are several ways to produce a quality knife but I have found few mass production knives that would stand up to a high quality hand made knife by a skilled smith.
Why don't you try actually producing a knife and learn the intricacies of how the blade is made before you go half cocked and buy a 100k + tool to do the same thing you can do with a little patience and practice.
Thats the trouble with kids today. They always want to bypass the learning and go straight to the doing. I know I have a few of my own.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing right, even if it takes more time to do it."
 
well,my plan is to manufacture knives my own design on a mass scale.i have a cutlery manufactureer in my area that i was going to approach with my blueprints.but if they arent interested than i will just buy the equipment and make my own.i really have some nice designs.
 
If you want to manufacture knives on a large scale, then you would be a knife manufacturer, not a knifemaker. I am not a knifemaker, but will be in the future with help from many "old timers". When I start making knives, it will be under my knife company name. If you are wanting to go large all at first and have the resources, thats up to you. I would farm the work out and save your money for later if you sell your knives. Don't blow your wad all up front. I spent a lot of time deciding which machine to buy. 1.Farm out your work 2.Concentrate on marketing 3. Plan for later. 4. Save as much money as you can. 5.Spend as much time as you can on research and marketing for your product. If you would like to know about waterjets, I'll be happy to tell you all you'll want to hear. You can call me anytime.:)
 
David Schott said:
File, Sandpaper, bar of steel, elbow grease. Read all stickies, give it a whirl, THEN ask questions....buying a waterjet is a $100,000 way of avoiding using a hacksaw when you are just starting.
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Thats about it. I made my first one with good ole 5160 from a maker, lots of files and sandpaper, a decent workbench, a cheap bbq for a coal forge, a dremel, and lots and lots of time. Its still not quite done, but i'll get around to it soon.
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Another suggestion would be to contact a production company like Bark River and work out a deal to have them produce your knives.
 
if i had enough money to toss out on a waterjet, i would just buy the most wicked nasty badass belt grinder i could find, get a good anvil, some files, a hydraulic press and a lifetime supply of belts for the grinder and sand paper.... oh yeah id get a better forge than my charcoal forge made of scrounged materials for free...
 
1: The world doesn't need more mass produced knives. Think about it. It you do the mass production thing, more than likely quality will be something like most every other mass produced knife. (Unless you can do mass produced and high quality, but I'd imagine that is an expensive setup, with much less of a market.) If you go for the mass market, think... can you really underprice bud-k? Wal-mart?

2: Your designs have probably been made before, many times. If they haven't, there's probably a reason. Knives are ooooold, they've been re-invented many times, and it's hard to do it again. There were many designs I drew out when I started making knives, that after hanging around here a few years, I've seen others make. It doesn't matter what shape or feature it has, it has probably been done.

Sounds like you don't want to be a blade smith, or a knife maker, and that's what this forum is for.

I normally don't give people attitude, but you sort-of walked in here telling a group of people who cherish the old ways and the old attitude of make quality product or go home that we're lame.
 
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JMHO, I have never even seen the kind of $ that it would take to consider just jumping into something that kinds of ambitious. Just geussing, but I'm thinking that in order to make a reasonable use of a piece of equipment like a waterjet, a person should look to what?, triple, quadruple their investment? Can't cut steel you can't afford if you spend too much on tooling. Maybe the OP has a last name likes Gates, Reagan, Trump, or whatever. IF that is the case than I am VERY jealous, and good luck, and please send me a postcard!. LOL. Just my opinion.

Matt
 
I've debated on whether or not to chime in and well what the hell. :D

I'll give you the same advice that I gave my son when he told me that he wanted to start a car tuning shop with some of his friends after they graduated.

Develop a business plan. This will require research on your part, you'll need to see what niche you'll fill in the market, what equipment or outsourcing is required, technical training, marketing, advertising and sales. Projected costs, estimated profits and startup and operating capital. This is probably the most important, most overlooked and hardest of any business.

If you've completed your business plan and it seems viable then do what you need to do to complete all the steps in your plan.

You're probably wondering about the tone of some of the posts. You asked to how to be a knifemaker after denigrating the hard earned techniques that we freely share. You don't want to be a knifemaker, you want to be a manufacturer or designer, there's a HUGE difference in planning, execution and in the thought processes leading up to the final product.

You mentioned that you had some really unique knife designs, that's really cool and I truly hope you're right but the truth is that there are very few original knife designs out there. When most of us talk about someone's "new or unique" approach to knife design it's not so much that it's original in design as in the execution of the combination of design elements. Here's an example; I designed and made a semi-wharnie EDC, thought it looked really original especially with all the curves in the handle, fiance pointed out that it looked a lot like a famous maker's standby knife, I emailed him a picture of my design and asked if it was all right if I made the handle like it was. His comment was that my knife would look like a Leavitt and not a "XXXXX" and admitted that the handle design came from an 1800's belt knife he once saw.

I wish you the best and would suggest that you try another thread with a more targeted question that "how to become a knifemaker?"
 
if its your dream go for it. mass produced or not:thumbup:.the waterjet can also be used to cut blades for others as well or a bunch of other things you could take orders for.your young but at least your trying to do something and dont let'em tell you that it wont work because of this and that truth is we dont know we speculate. just a favorite quote of mine "dont analyze my beliefs,and i wont pick out the flaws in yours". good luck and i hope you get it done someday.:thumbup:
 
Blue_Dragon said:
1: The world doesn't need more mass produced knives. Think about it. It you do the mass production thing, more than likely quality will be something like most every other mass produced knife. (Unless you can do mass produced and high quality, but I'd imagine that is an expensive setup, with much less of a market.) If you go for the mass market, think... can you really underprice bud-k? Wal-mart?

2: Your designs have probably been made before, many times. If they haven't, there's probably a reason. Knives are ooooold, they've been re-invented many times, and it's hard to do it again. There were many designs I drew out when I started making knives, that after hanging around here a few years, I've seen others make. It doesn't matter what shape or feature it has, it has probably been done.

Sounds like you don't want to be a blade smith, or a knife maker, and that's what this forum is for.

I normally don't give people attitude, but you sort-of walked in here telling a group of people who cherish the old ways and the old attitude of make quality product or go home that we're lame.
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excuse me, but no offence intended but are you reading the right thread? if anything i thought i was being complimentary in saying that not everyone can make knives by hand in the old school way.(i know i dont have the talent). i was thinking more in line of programing a machine from CAD drawings to mass produce a design of my own.i was just asking advice so i could get imput from people here who i believe probably have forgot more than i will ever know. so i think you have misunderstood me.but i still like you annyway.
 
thanks for the replys i have actually learned a lot from this thread. my plan was to make some of my designs to market.but from reading here i see it might be a better idea to farm the work out and spend the money on marketing.thanks t you all for the advice.and to the waterjet guy.thanks for inviting me t call you for advice i will definatly call you this week.thanks again.Ron and any/all advice that you guys have i am very gratefull for.
 
I would really like to hear what you are calling mass produced. 500 a year? 100,000 a year? Are you looking to make knives like Chris Reeve, William Henry? or more like Benchmade, Kershaw etc?
If you want to manufacture knives, you should have a firm grasp on what it takes to make a knife. Even in mass produced knives there is a lot basic knifemaking 101 that goes into turning out a end product. If you were to mass produce on any large scale you could easily look at spending at least a million dollars by the time you purchase all of the equipment and find a facility. Then you have to have a satff made up of everybody from secretaries to engineers and worker bees. They you have to have a marketing staff to try to sell your products at trades shows, retail stores, magazines and what ever markets you intend to capture. Look at a lot of the major knife companies who are moving production overseas. That should tell you something. Most of them are not doing it becasue the want to, they have to do it to stay competitive. Outsourcing your parts could prove to be a disaster waiting to happen. Not only will it be expensive, but you will be a slave to whoever is making your parts. Been there, done that. Remember, even after you get all of the parts made, there is a lot of fit and finish that goes into a knife to come up with the final product. They don't snap together like legos as some would have you believe.
 
i live a couple of miles away from a cutlery company that used to do gvt contracts bayonets, fighting knives etc.im thinking of approaching them to make a small run. say 100 of my design and sell them thru a website ala swamprat,scrapyard etc...probably more like scrapyard. see if they sell.i have a couple of designs i think are pretty cool. im just thrwing this out there to you guys for your imput and suggestions.thanks.
 
Bobby Branton said:
I would really like to hear what you are calling mass produced. 500 a year? 100,000 a year? Are you looking to make knives like Chris Reeve, William Henry? or more like Benchmade, Kershaw etc?
If you want to manufacture knives, you should have a firm grasp on what it takes to make a knife. Even in mass produced knives there is a lot basic knifemaking 101 that goes into turning out a end product. If you were to mass produce on any large scale you could easily look at spending at least a million dollars by the time you purchase all of the equipment and find a facility. Then you have to have a satff made up of everybody from secretaries to engineers and worker bees. They you have to have a marketing staff to try to sell your products at trades shows, retail stores, magazines and what ever markets you intend to capture. Look at a lot of the major knife companies who are moving production overseas. That should tell you something. Most of them are not doing it becasue the want to, they have to do it to stay competitive. Outsourcing your parts could prove to be a disaster waiting to happen. Not only will it be expensive, but you will be a slave to whoever is making your parts. Been there, done that. Remember, even after you get all of the parts made, there is a lot of fit and finish that goes into a knife to come up with the final product. They don't snap together like legos as some would have you believe.
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isnt there a lot of companys that do 100% out source.i've read here that coldsteel(just for example) doesnt make any of their product.
 
yoz's friend said:
isnt there a lot of companys that do 100% out source.i've read here that coldsteel(just for example) doesnt make any of their product.
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They are having the whole knife outsourced, not parts.
To be honest, most companies probably won't be willing make 100 knives, maybe a small company. 100 knives will probably not be worth their trouble and if they do, they will be more expensive. Not impossible, just harder. There are knifemakers that will do 100 pieces. What are these knives going to retail for? What state do you live in?
 
Sorry if I misinterpreted. But really, take a hard, honest look at things before sinking money into it. You may find yourself entering a market that is already saturated.
 
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